What can investors expect from the Victorian market?

The past year may have been turbulent for the property market as a whole, but Melbourne once again managed to hold its own. The August 2015 CoreLogic RP Data Hedonic Home Value Index points to strong growth across the Victorian capital, with dwelling values up 10.6 per cent over the last 12 months.

As a result, the median dwelling price hit $563,500, offering total gross returns of 14.3 per cent. This was the second highest result in the country, ranking only behind Sydney. CoreLogic RP Data head of research Tim Lawless explained that Melbourne is standing apart from the crowd in more ways than one.

“Over the past three months across every capital city except Melbourne and Brisbane, it has been the apartment sector that has shown the stronger growth result,” said Mr Lawless.

He suggested that all eyes will be on the market over the coming months to see whether stock listings are able to keep pace with demand. Spring is usually a time when more properties enter the market, so it will be interesting to see whether this materialises in 2015 for those buying real estate in Box Hill.

July stock listings figures from SQM Research showed just how much pressure the Melbourne market has been under during the past 12 months. Compared to the same month of 2014, the city witnessed a 10.3 per cent fall in the number of properties available for sale. Between June and July this year, the rise registered at 7.8 per cent.

The group indicated this could be a result of tighter investment lending conditions introduced by the Australian Prudential and Regulatory Authority at the end of last year.